King of fruits gets a sour start

The mango season has begun on a sour note for farmers. For the farmers, who are yet to recover from the heavy losses incurred during the last three consecutive years, are facing another problem.

While the Banganapalli crop size has come down to 15-20 per cent of the normal crop size, Thotapuri, Rasalu and other varieties are down to 30-40 per cent of the normal crop. Last year, the farmers reaped 20-30 per cent of Banganapalli normal harvest and 50 per cent of Thotapuri normal crop.

R Vidya Bhushan, deputy director, horticulture, Agri Export Zone, here told Business Standard that the main reason for the dip in the crop size was tsunami.

"After tsunami, the weather changed suddenly. Prolonged chilly nights and hot daytime killed the flowering to a large extent. As farmers had ignored scientists' advice, not used organic manure, and followed their own old methods of cultivation, pest and diseases such as mango-hopper, anthracnose and thrips attacked the crop. This left leaves blackish with sooty moulds and fruits with poor development. The gardens also suffered from boron deficiency, which led to defective fertilisation, thus damaging 50 per cent of the fruit," he said.

Though drought conditions continued to prevail, welcome initial rains saved the crop. Mango gardens are spread over 65,000 hectares in Nuziveed, Sattupalli and Tiruvur mandals of the Krishna district. The Banganapalli variety is grown in 40 per cent hectarage and Thotapuri, Rasalu and other varieties in 60 per cent hectarage.

"Under normal circumstances, 10 tonne of mangoes can be harvested per hectare, which would put the normal crop at 6.5 lakh tonnes. However, 60,000-70,000 tonnes of mangoes are likely to arrive at the Asia's biggest mango market here for exporting them to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and other states in three months. Another 60,000 tonnes of mangoes are expected to be directly exported from various village mandis in the district to Delhi. This means that farmers have lost at least 4.5 lakh tonnes of harvest this year," Vidya Bhushan said

D Kasiviswnatha Rao, president, Mango Growers' Association, said the season usually begins in the first week of April, but this year it started in the third week of March itself.

"The farmers were forced to take their unripened and poor quality mangoes to the market, for which they received less than normal per tonne prices. This was the first time that 2,000-3,000 tonnes of mangoes were harvested in March itself. The price of Banganapalli has now moved between Rs 7,000 and Rs 10,000 per tonne and that of Thotapuri around Rs 5,000 per tonne," he said adding, "As the season picks up, farmers may earn Rs 2,000-3,000 more per tonne," he added.

V Viroop Kumar, secretary of the association, however, differed with Vidya Bhushan's estimation of the crop size. He put the size of Banganapalli mangoes 20 per cent in excess of last year's harvest and that of Thotapuri and other varieties 50 per cent in excess. "The prices reflect this trend," he said.